Marcus and Dr. Franklin combat an invasion by parasitic aliens that attach
themselves to humans. Ivanova investigates the possibility of bringing a
new member into the conspiracy.
Joshua Cox as Corwin.
Aubrey Morris as Duncan.
James Warwick as Matthew Duffin.

Watch For

A race of symbiotes, the Vindrizi, has existed for half a million
years. They were created as
recorders, observing events all over the galaxy so that others
can learn about the past when all the books and records have been
swallowed by the next dark age. They survive by passing from host
to host, always seeking volunteers who have nothing left to live for
and want to live out their lives participating in a grand endeavor.

The Shadows have been building up forces in sector 800, near the border
of Centauri space.

It's never made clear how much time has passed before the Vindrizi's
departure, but it's odd that Sheridan and company didn't jump at the
chance to get all the information they could about the Shadows and
the previous wars while the Vindrizi were still aboard. Of course,
it's possible such discussions took place, but they're never mentioned.

Now that Sheridan and his people know about the Vindrizi, perhaps
they'll call upon them in the future.

What came in on the ship at the beginning of the episode? The two
people waiting for the ship were quite happy to see it arrive. Were
they not yet joined with the Vindrizi, or did the ship simply carry
more of their kind?

Marcus seems a good deal less concerned with
secrecy than his
coconspirators; he was talking to Garibaldi openly, and loudly, about
his network of contacts in a public place. By contrast, Ivanova and
Sheridan didn't even want to be seen with him at the
Earhart's party for fear of raising questions.

Why is Ivanova so hostile toward Marcus? Have her last few romantic
experiences made her want to discourage any new developments in that
area? (For example,
"The War Prayer"
and
"Divided Loyalties.")

During the medical staff meeting, Franklin mentions that there's a
need for Drazi blood. Is the station being flooded with Drazi refugees,
much like it was with Narn refugees while the Narn-Centauri War was at
its peak? If so, is Babylon 5 becoming a sort of haven for refugees
of all stripes?

Duncan's line, "I don't like being poked by doctors," is also spoken
by the main character Alex in Stanley Kubrick's
"A Clockwork Orange."

The ship carrying the Vindrizi is called the Dyson, most likely named
for physicist Freeman Dyson.

Marcus quotes from Dickens'
"A Christmas Carol" to Garibaldi, and from
Shakespeare's "Macbeth" when he wakes Duncan up. Note that Marcus
refers to Macbeth as "the Scottish play," and replaces "Macbeth" with
"Marcus" in his quote -- there is a superstition
among actors that referring to Macbeth by name is bad luck. (See
jms speaks)

The particular Macbeth quotes are from Act II, scene 2:

Methought I heard a voice cry "Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep" -- the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labor's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast.

Then, a moment later:

Still it cried "Sleep no more!" to all the house.
"Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more."

Glamis and Cawdor are two earl titles that Macbeth holds.

Marcus refers to his fighting staff as a "Copeland J5000" while trying
to convince the Vindrizi it's a medical instrument. That's most likely
a reference to producer John Copeland.

The Vindrizi's musing about what they've experienced is reminiscent of
Batty's dying words at the end of the movie
"Blade Runner."

"Exogenesis," which we just started filming this week, is probably our
most "ordinary" story of the batch, though it puts a new spin on
several traditional story elements.

Sometimes I do like to take stories that have always
been done one way, and turn them on their heads to see what new
possibilities tumble out. It's fun....

"Exogenesis" - The last non-arc episode for some time. Puts Dr.
Franklin and Marcus together investigating some odd happenings in
DownBelow that may indicate some kind of alien influence. Does,
however, introduce a thread that will play out over time.

Another "oh, yeah, I nearly forgot"...for those out there who have
young kids, or if you're a bit on the squeamish side yourself...there's
one EFX shot at the end of the teaser for "Exogenesis" that you may want
to avoid. When it was finished, John Copeland brought it into my office,
fired it up on my TV, and looked away, saying, "You look, it creeps me
out too much to look at it again." It's...pretty strong. So you'll miss
the minimum possible, here's the sequence: first there's the Screaming
Man (a), then a cutaway to two people (b), then back at the Man for the
first part of the shot (c), the two people again (d), the man (e), and
finally the two people. What you want to avoid, if there are real young
kids in the room, are shots c and e. That's it for the whole episode.
For non-netted folks, it'll go by pretty fast, but I figured it'd be
worth mentioning as an added piece of info for the netted amongst us.

How is your mental image of the arc holding
up?
The overview still holds up pretty well, I think. Toward the end of
season two, I think things got just a *tad* too convoluted in places, so
that's being cleared up a bit, the dry brush trimmed back, the red
herrings cleared away, because we've got to start focusing on the real
story, not the misdirections. That's probably the one thing I'd go back
and revise, because in general, you can't just bring something up and
walk away form (from) it later; it's got to either fit, or be
reasonably, logically explained away. So some time has to be spent on
that now. But that's been done pretty effectively in this first batch
of episodes, and now we're down to really cranking on the shadow war.

In four more episodes (writing-wise), I'll be at the exact midpoint
in the story, which on one level is a little hard to believe; it's gont
(gone) by so fast. Seems like yesterday that we just got started.
Which is why the overview is very helpful; by constantly reminding me
where we should be, it doesn't let me get lost in the neverwhere of TV
production.

All things considered...we've had some bumps on the ride, a detour
here and there, the occasional flat tire, but doggone it if the old
thing seems to have a mind of its own; I started writing #7 the other
day, and I'm well past halfway finished writing it, it's coming out
almost as though it already existed, and I've just managed to "tune
into" it, like the sculpter who knows that inside a block of wood is a
horse, he just has to start chopping and cutting until he finds and
relases it.

So long answer to a short question...we're still on course, and I'm
still quite pleased with where we're going, and how we're getting there.

Thanks. Yeah, Exo is the last non-arc episode for a long time,
and the last chance to catch one's breath before the big fall.

My personal evaluation of the episode is that it's okay. The
second half, I think, isn't as strong as the first half. Halfway
through writing the episode, we had a problem come up in production
that unexpectedly took me away from the script for about a week.
(Nothing major, but it had to be dealt with and it took time.)
Usually, I write copious notes on a script before I begin writing it.
In this case, the story was so crystalline clear in my head that I just
dived in, and was blasting away terrific when the hit came midway
through. By the time I got back, I'd lost some of the fingerprints of
the story, and had to kind of re-find them again. Mainly, I think the
expository sequence at the end could've been done better.

Needless to say, that's the last time I trusted myself without
notes, no matter how well I "see" the episode in my head. It'd be a
great script for second or first season, but we have to keep raising
the bar, every aspect has to be better than the last thing we did, so
for my money it's not quite up to that standard. Happily, it's the
*only* episode this season that I feel that way about...the rest are
all just nifty.

That said, I think it has some great moments for Marcus, Franklin
and others...and yes, there's a lot more planned with Franklin coming
up this season, particularly toward the latter third of the season.

Thanks (I think). Yeah, I've said from the git-go that in my
view the second half of Exo isn't up to the first half. It is, in my
view, the weakest of this season's 22. On the flip side, that means
the other 21 are pretty nifty.

Agree with you on Marcus. I'm finding I have the same problem
with him I have with Londo...getting him to shut up once I wire him up
and let him go. He's a lot of fun to write, in that he can do the
physical action stuff very well, he can do comedy, more dramatic
emotional stuff...the whole range. I can take him places and do things
with him that I can't in some ways for the other characters, in that he
has only one responsibility, whereas the others have larger
responsibilities to more people.

What did Joshua Cox think of Corwin getting to leave
C&C for a change?
He loved it.

About the avoidance of the name "Macbeth"Just figured I'd use that description of it
rather than Macbeth, to make it a bit more obscure, but also some
actors do have a problem saying the name Macbeth or being around it
when it's said (note: Jason isn't one of them). so it was also a
courtesy. (Later on, while shooting "A Late Delivery From Avalon,"
one of the hair dressers made the error of referring to Macbeth out
loud in front of Michael York, and had to go through the whole
undo-the-curse routine, walking around the stages three times, etc.)

I like Marcus quoting literature, Shakespeare included. So
it's something I've peppered through his character, though trying to
avoid too much of it.

Yes, Marcus and Ivanova should get along
well...assuming one doesn't kill the other first....

Why doesn't Marcus wear a link?
I just summoned up Marcus in my head. Here's what he said: "Because I
won't wear the bloody thing, that's why. Bad enough you've got those
pagers you wear in 1996, no privacy, no chance to get away, always at
somebody's beck and call. Why not just put a leash around your neck and
get it over with? It'd be faster and a good deal more honest. I'm down
in the bar trying to be inconspicuous, dangerous characters on all
sides, trying not to be noticed...and the link goes off, and I'm dead.
Or at minimum seriously thumped. No, absolutely not. You'll never get
me to wear one of those."

(This is btw the reason why I absolutely *refuse* to wear a pager
myself.)

Was that Sean Connery's voice at the beginning?
It was a voice in the walla group that basically came out
sounding that way.

Response to the above from producer George
Johnsen
No, it is Doug Cook, one of our Walla people doing a fair Sean
imitation which was not his intention.

Where did Franklin's stim abuse problem go?
It hasn't come to a head yet. Any abuser of substances has moments
when he's up, and moments when he's down, moments when he seems fine,
moments when he's not.